The present invention relates to techniques for mounting a unit or structure on a wall or the like. More particularly, the invention pertains to methods and apparatus for mounting frames, boxes or various other units, inset in openings in walls or partitions, for example, and finds particular application in revising or remodeling processes to inset structures in existing walls.
In the construction or remodeling of a building, electrical wiring, such as for electrical service, cable service, telephone service, and computer networking, is preferably installed before the walls are finished, thus avoiding having to cut into finished wallboard or the like. Then various electrical junction boxes are installed, usually attached to wall studs, and the wiring introduced into the junction boxes through appropriate holes, including punch-out holes, in the backs or sides of the junction boxes. The appropriate electrical appliances, such as switches, receptacles, or other devices, are wired and mounted in the junction boxes. When wallboard, for example, is completed around a junction box, a finish plate may be attached to the front of the electrical appliance.
In situations where an electrical junction box is to be installed in a completed wall, a stud must be located behind the wall and a hole cut in the wall next to the stud. The hole must be large enough to pass the junction box through and allow an installer to attach the junction box to the stud, such as by nails, for example. Such an operation can leave a substantially large hole requiring significant patching and painting.
It is desirable and advantageous to provide a technique for mounting an electrical junction box in a wall without the need to locate a stud behind the wall in order to attach the junction box to the stud, and without the need to cut a hole substantially larger than the junction box. The present invention provides method and apparatus for achieving these advantages. Further, the present invention is not limited to the field of electrical junction boxes, or building walls. The present invention may be applied to any circumstance in general wherein a box of some kind is to be mounted in an opening in a wall or partition, for example, and is generally not limited in either size or shape of the box to be mounted, or to the function or purpose of the box.
The straps described below may be somewhat similar to available plastic strips for use in binding cables, or the like. Such a strip features a grip at one end of the strip, and lateral ridges along one side of the strip. In use, the strip may be wrapped around a bundle of cables and the end of the strip without the grip inserted into the grip and pulled tightly to tie up the cable bundle.
The present invention provides method and apparatus for mounting a box unit or assembly in an opening in a wall or the like. The box assembly may include a box body, a first flange, and a second flange. The first flange has at least one dimension, such as height or width, that extends beyond a corresponding transverse dimension of the box body, so that, with the first flange integral or attached to the box unit body, while the box unit body may fit into or through an opening in a wall, the first flange will not. When the second flange is in position, at least partly behind the wall, for the mounting of the box unit in the wall opening, the second flange effectively extends behind the wall beyond the box unit body. Thus, the first and second flanges each extends beyond the wall opening so that a portion of the wall at the opening is effectively sandwiched between the first and second flanges. One or more attachment devices are provided to connect the second flange to the first flange, directly, or indirectly by connecting one of the flanges to the box body to which the other flange is fixed, with the first flange extending on one side of the wall, the second flange extending on the other side of the wall, and the box unit body in the opening in the wall, to mount the box unit or assembly in the wall opening.
In a method of the invention the box unit body is positioned in the opening in the wall with the second flange at least partly behind the wall. The first flange is positioned on the front side of the wall generally toward the front of the box body and extending beyond at least one transverse dimension of the wall opening. The first flange and the second flange are connected together, directly or indirectly, to anchor the box unit or assembly to the wall with the first flange against the front surface of the wall and the second flange against the back surface of the wall.
One of the first or second flanges may be separate from the box body, and one of the flanges may be integral or joined to the box body. One or more attachments may be provided to so connect the first flange to the second flange. Such attachment devices may include elongate members, such as straps, carried by the second flange, for example, and corresponding receptacles carried by the first flange. The elongate members may be received and engaged by the receptacles to so connect the first flange and the second flange. Also, where the second flange is separate from the box body, the elongate members carried by the second flange may be used to manipulate the second flange behind the wall through the wall opening. Threaded connectors, such as screws, or nuts and bolts, may be used to connect the first flange and the second flange. Further, as an alternative, either elongate members or receptacles therefor may be carried by the box body; also, threaded connectors may be carried by the box body.
With the second flange integral or attached to the box body, the box body is inserted through the wall opening to behind the wall with the second flange, and the box body is then positioned in the wall opening with the second flange behind the wall. In the case of a separate second flange, the second flange may be inserted through the wall opening and manipulated behind the wall to be drawn over the back of the box body which is positioned in the wall opening. Elongate members carried by the second flange may be used to maneuver the second flange behind the wall.
The second flange may also be provided by a flange system comprising one or more flange members, with each flange member having a first side and a second side joined by a base such that the first side of the flange member may be positioned on one side of a wall and the second side of the flange member may be positioned on the other side of the wall with the base generally along the edge of the wall opening. With the one or more flange members so positioned, the box unit body may be inserted into the opening in the wall, keeping the flange members in place along the edge of the wall opening. Then the first flange, located generally toward the front of the box unit body, that is, on the front side of the wall, may be connected to the one or more flange members to anchor the box unit in the wall opening.
Box units or assemblies according to the present invention may include box bodies of various shapes and sizes, and for various purposes. As one example, a box assembly according to the present invention may be an electrical junction box to be mounted in a wall opening to house some electrical appliance that is connected to wires running behind the wall.
Although apparatus and method of the present invention may be described in terms of a box, or box unit, or box assembly, and two flanges that secure the box in an opening in a wall, and mounting a box, or box unit, or box assembly, in an opening in a wall using flanges, these descriptive terms are to be taken in their broad senses. For example, a wall as used herein may be anything that serves as a partition, or divider, between two separate spaces, such that space on one side of the wall may be so distinguished from space on the other side of the wall, and such that the wall has two surfaces that face the two spaces. As examples, a wall may be an actual side of a room in a building, including wallboard, gypsum board or the like, or may be a panel as part of a piece of equipment. Similarly, a box, or box unit, or box assembly, as used herein may include any structure, or body, defining a space, recess, or compartment, for example, and may have one or more continuous sides, or may be in the form of an open frame. As examples, a box body may be a rectangular parallelepiped with four sides and a bottom, or may be a cylindrical tube. One or more sides or ends of a box body may be open in whole or in part. Also, a flange as used herein may be any collar, rib, rim, wing, plate, framing, member, or plurality of members that is integral or joined to a box body, or that fits on, or cooperates with, a box body, to secure the box unit to a wall, and may circumscribe the box body in whole or in part, such as in the case of a collar or in the case of tabs or flange members spaced about the periphery of the box unit body. The examples used in this paragraph are provided for purposes of illustration and not limitation to emphasize the breadth of meaning to be given to the terms referred to. Finally, no limiting meaning is to be given to the terms xe2x80x9cunitxe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9cassemblyxe2x80x9d as use herein; rather these terms are used in referring to the structure of the invention in general, taking into account that the invention includes parts which are connected together in mounting the structure in an opening in a wall.
The present invention thus provides apparatus and method whereby a box body is mounted in an opening in a wall, anchored there by a first flange against the front surface of the wall and a second flange against the back surface of the wall, with the two flanges connected together, and wherein the process of mounting the apparatus is carried out from in front of the wall, with the second flange able to be inserted through the wall opening.